I am having a
strong case of déjà vu. In the mid 60s I
was a teenager living in a small town in Hunterdon County New Jersey. Life was idyllic, no one locked their doors
and dairy farms filled the landscape. In 1967 a New York City television
station started a Candid Camera knock-off show and came “out to the country” to
interview some of our established families, including my father, the local
postmaster. There was an attempt at
“Green Acres” humor with references to hicks and hayseeds, to entertain the big
city folks.
Several years
later a major interstate was completed through the middle of Hunterdon County
and our New Jersey farm lands became a NYC bedroom community. Within a decade it was difficult to find a
cow or hick among the plots of large suburban homes and the campuses of fortune
500 companies. In 2012, Hunterdon County N.J. was listed as having the sixth highest
per capita income in the United States.
I can sense the
same tensions and energy in Washington County that my family talked about
during the transition of my childhood home.
There are the same regrets and sadness from older residents and excitement
among the young. There is a similar
outpouring of new construction, both residential and commercial. As in my
hometown, farmers are selling out to become overnight millionaires. One can
sense a shift from a laid back style of living to a more hurry-up, frantic
pace.
The economic boom
we are experiencing will involve major changes in population, politics and standard
of living. Washington County will become
more Hispanic, following the trend in Eastern Pennsylvania. It will become more Republican as the
population becomes wealthier. It will
become more gentrified as the farms, small businesses and hamlets disappear.
My hope is that
the established local families of Washington County, those whom trace their
roots back over centuries, will hold their own in the fabric of the new
Washington renaissance. This was not the
case in my hometown, where outside interests quickly eclipsed the locals and
took over the reins of government and community life. Something valuable will be lost if our
residents who know best where Washington County came from are not an integral
part in where it is going.
A second concern
is that our leadership is able to manage the transition with vision and empathy
for all of our citizens. Washington
County must not be permitted to grow like a sprawling Wild West oil town that
quickly explodes and later fizzles out after the shale rock is fracked
dry. Responsible planning is the key, with
the drillers working with us for the long term and not in their own interests.
Lastly, our most disenfranchised citizens must
be permitted to proportionately share in the economic growth through education,
jobs programs and social services. A
renaissance need not be window dressing.
If managed with care, it can make our community a national model for
renewal.
